THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST: Solomon's Temple (2)

The Inside of the Temple Is Furnished

(A Temple without an Idol)

The walls and floors were overlaid with gold, and the beautiful altar was covered with gold. Golden chairs formed a partition in front of the altar, and two golden angels stretched their wings across the sacred inner room of the Temple, in which was the sacred Ark.

When the outside walls of stone were built, the inside of the Temple was lined with the sweet-scented cedar-wood, richly decorated with carved flowers, and palm-trees and figures of angels.

1 Kings 6:15-28 Contemporary English Version (CEV)

15 The floor of the temple was made out of pine, and the walls were lined with cedar from floor to ceiling.

16 The most holy place was in the back of the temple, and it was thirty feet square. Cedar boards standing from floor to ceiling separated it from the rest of the temple.

17 The temple’s main room was sixty feet long, and it was in front of the most holy place.

18 The inside walls were lined with cedar to hide the stones, and the cedar was decorated with carvings of gourds and flowers.

19 The sacred chest was kept in the most holy place.

20-22 This room was thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and thirty feet high, and it was lined with pure gold. There were also gold chains across the front of the most holy place. The inside of the temple, as well as the cedar altar in the most holy place, was covered with gold.

23 Solomon had two statues of winged creatures made from olive wood to put in the most holy place. Each creature was fifteen feet tall 24-26 and fifteen feet across. They had two wings, and the wings were seven and a half feet long.

27 Solomon put them next to each other in the most holy place. Their wings were spread out and reached across the room.

28 The creatures were also covered with gold.

Now the word of the LORD came to Solomon, "Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my ordinances and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel." So Solomon built the house, and finished it.

The feature that set apart the Solomonic Temple from other Temples in the ancient world is that there was no idol in it. It contained only the Mercy Seat over the Ark and the

Cherubim overshadowing the Mercy Seat. This declared to the world that idols are unnecessary for God to be present. The God of Israel was not localized in any sense. Neither was He bound to any other form such as the Ark. The Temple therefore was not necessary because of God's nature. He did not need it. One thousand years later, the first Christian martyr, Stephen, said to an unruly crowd:

...Solomon built God a house. However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says: "Heaven is My throne, and the earth is my footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the Lord or what is the place of My rest? Has not My hand made all these things?" (Acts 7:47-50, quoting Isaiah 66:1-2).

The Temple was built to meet the limitations and needs of God's people. It emphasized the way of salvation to those who asked His forgiveness and represented the believer’s assurance of the grace of God for their joy and blessing. (1 Kings 8:27-30).

But will God indeed dwell on the earth? "Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!" (V. 27)

The Temple also symbolized the hearing ear of God:

Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You today: that Your eyes may be open toward this temple night and day toward the place of which You said, "My name shall be there," and that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place. (1 Kings 8:28-29).

It was also a place of refuge for the stranger:

Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for Your name's sake. (for they will hear of Your great name and Your strong hand and Your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this temple, hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is called by your name (1 Kings 8: 4143).

The Temple is the house of prayer for all people where all nations of the earth should fear God:

Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My House of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations (Isaiah 56:7).

And Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold, and he drew chains of gold across, in front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. And he overlaid the whole house with gold, until the entire house was finished. Also the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold. In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high. Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the length of the other wing of the cherub; it was ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. The other cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same measure and the same form. The height of one cherub was ten cubits and so was that of the other cherub. He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house; and the wings of the cherubim were spread out so that a wing of one touched the one wall, and a wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; their other wings touched each other in the middle of the house. And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.

He carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms. The floor of the house he overlaid with gold in the inner and outer rooms. For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood; the lintel and the doorposts formed a pentagon. He covered the two doors of olive wood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; he overlaid them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubim and upon the palm trees. So also he made for the entrance to the nave doorposts of olive wood, in the form of a square, and two doors of cypress wood; the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. On them he carved cherubim and palm trees and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied upon the carved work. He built the inner court with three courses of hewn stone and one course of cedar beams. In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid, in the month of Ziv. And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it.